this post was submitted on 28 May 2024
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How much each change to the atmosphere has warmed the world: IPCC AR6 Figure 2 - Thee bar charts: first chart: how much each gas has warmed the world. About 1C of total warming. Second chart: about 1.5C of total warming from well-mixed greenhouse gases, offset by 0.4C of cooling from aerosols and negligible influence from changes to solar output, volcanoes, and internal variability. Third chart: about 1.25C of warming from CO2, 0.5C from methane, and a bunch more in small quantities from other gases. About 0.5C of cooling with large error bars from SO2.

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A call to replace air conditioners with heat pumps in California (www.canarymedia.com)
submitted 6 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 45 points 6 months ago (1 children)

They mean to say replace heat pumps with reverse cycle heat pumps

[–] [email protected] 15 points 6 months ago (3 children)

<for those who are uninitiated in the black arts of HVAC, "reverse cycle heat pump" is a fancy way to say "air conditioner". The headline makes no sense as written. A "heat pump" is just an air conditioner that you turned around so it cools down the outside and heats up your house.>

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago

The headline absolutely makes sense for the US market. The default terminology in the HVAC industry here is that an air conditioner provides cooling, and a heat pump provides heating and cooling. It's really that simple and correct in this case, as that's the common understanding in the industry.

Obviously other countries, thermodynamics textbooks, and other applications like refrigeration use different terminology. But holy shit it's not that hard and we don't need to get all pedantic using definitions from other industries that don't apply to this narrow topic.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago

It is exactly that. "Heat pump" is the term used for an air conditioner that can run both ways, it can pump heat from inside out in the summer, and from outside in in the winter. An "Air conditioner" only runs one way.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago

Essentially an air conditioner that can very efficently both heat and cool rather than just do one